Arkansas Lawmakers Vote To Hold AG In Contempt

WASHINGTON — The House voted Thursday to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress over his failure to turn over documents related to the Fast and Furious scandal.

Holder is the first sitting Cabinet member held in contempt of Congress, by a 255-67 vote.

Rep. Mike Ross, D-Prescott, was one of 17 Democrats to join Republicans in voting to take such an action against a sitting Cabinet official.

“I believe the people of Arkansas and our nation deserve answers to questions regarding the unsuccessful ‘Operation Fast and Furious’ gun-tracking program,” Ross said in a statement. “I recognize that holding the attorney general in contempt of Congress is a serious and significant action, but in this case, it is necessary because the failures resulted in the loss of the life of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.”

During the debate before the vote, Republicans said they were seeking answers for the Michigan family of Brian Terry, a Border Patrol agent killed in December 2010 in a shootout with Mexican bandits. Two guns from Fast and Furious were found at the scene.

Ross said Terry’s death alone requires “a full and transparent investigation” that is not possible if documents are withheld.

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has spent 16 months investigating the Fast and Furious program. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the committee, subpoenaed the Justice Department last October for documents.

More than 7,600 pages have been turned over, but Issa said key documents have not been released.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., the ranking member of the House Ooversight and Government Reform Committee, said that Holder had been cooperative.

In a statement, Holder said the vote “is the regrettable culmination of what became a misguided — and politically motivated — investigation during an election year.” Holder added that the Republicans leading the investigation “have focused on politics over public safety.”

In the debate, Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., said the contempt motions were “Fast and foolish, fast and fake.”

Rep. Rich Nugent, R-Fla., took the opposite view, arguing, “A man died serving his country, and we have a right to know what the federal government’s hand was in that.”

“Today I joined my colleagues in sending the message to Attorney General Holder that he needs to release all documents regarding the Fast and Furious program,” Boren said in a statement. “The family of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry deserves answers to their questions, and the American people are entitled to transparency and accountability from their Attorney General.”

Two Republicans — Reps. Scott Rigell of Virginia and Steven LaTourette of Ohio — joined other Democrats in voting No.

White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer issued a statement shortly after the vote calling it “political theater” staged by Republican partisans intent on holding President Barack Obama to a single term in office.

In Operation Fast and Furious, agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives abandoned the agency’s usual practice of intercepting all weapons they believed to be illicitly purchased. Instead, the goal of “gun-walking” was to track such weapons to high-level arms traffickers who had eluded prosecution and to dismantle their networks.

Gun-walking long has been barred by Justice Department policy, but federal agents in Arizona experimented with it in at least two investigations during the George W. Bush administration before Operation Fast and Furious. The agents in Arizona lost track of several hundred weapons in that operation.